Square Enix Stream Service Dive In Delayed

Publisher Square Enix is delaying Dive In, that streaming service that would bring some of its bigger titles to mobile devices and smartphone. Normally launching on October 9, the online tool will be delayed to an undetermined date.

Originally, Dive In would be coming out the gates with the likes of Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy VII: International. It would’ve also included Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders.

Dive In is expected to work like any streaming setup, relying on a rental system for games, though only available in Japan so far. Fees would start as low as 150 yen for three days to thousands of yen to keep playing for a year.

Aside from its two big hitters, Square Enix already had a support plan set up for the coming months. Games like The Last Remnant would be available in November, while Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Murdered: Soul Suspect would follow in December.

This would eventually carry over to next year, when Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII would be added as well. Naturally, these releases are now all uncertain.

Dive In is the second streaming service recently pitched by Square Enix. It also unveiled Shinra Technologies, named after the evil super corporation in Final Fantasy VII, for reasons.

In the latter example, the company wants to build a network of simulated supercomputers that would take the brunt of streaming off end users. It would allow for streamed titles to have a lot more permanence.

Perhaps Square Enix was a bit too optimistic about the ramifications of streaming media. Dive In was only announced last month, so it will probably need some more testing to get the kinks out.